Flirting For The Entitled
by Lunar-L
Summary: Chloé approaches Nathaniel at his holiday party and he's forced to discover that she hasn't been her prickly self in a while and why. Thus starts an awkward little friendship/romance that's mostly one-sided. At first. Started as a Tumblr prompt then evolved.
1. The Party

**Flirting For The Entitled**

I already posted this once as part of my Miraculous Drabbles story collection but since I'm continuing it I think it needs it's own story. This is the original prompts the first chapter was based on:

98, and Chlonath? Pretty please?

98\. "Why are we fighting over beverages!?"

AND

9 for the winter prompts. With Chloe and Nathanial please?

9\. "I have no clue what this is supposed to be."

* * *

 **The Party**

"There you are!"

Nathaniel sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose as he reminded himself for the millionth time tonight that his parents would not be happy if he threw Chloé out of his party. His mother worked at City Hall and he knew that she could get some serious back lash from Mayor Bourgeois if the blonde girl was the only one of his classmates ejected from something hosted at her house.

All he'd wanted was to have his friends from school over to have a holiday party. His parents had always been a little overprotective, so he'd never had a party at his time of year before. They hadn't even let him got to Adrien's Réveillon dinner last year because it had been so last minute and they'd worried about what might happen if they weren't prepared.

So to be suddenly told by his mother that he could have a party as long as he invited everyone in his class had been liberating. He couldn't mess up this chance or he'd never be given another one, and hopefully next time he would be allowed to chose the guest list a bit more freely. Maybe he'd only invite guys officially next time and let the girls come on the condition no one said anything to Chloé or Sabrina. His mother couldn't be faulted that Chloé hadn't been asked to come to a guys only party, could she?

He faced the girl approaching him. "What do you want _now_ Chloé?" he snapped at her, despite his internal reminders to be civil. Honestly, he was exasperated with her. She'd been following him around all night. Demanding a better quality of _hors d'oeuvres_ , complaining about the music and putting down his artwork that he'd missed scattered about by his proud but strict parents.

"These glasses your parents provided; I want a larger one like everyone else got."

He glanced down at the offered glass. For the party his parents had looked out a set of twelve large and fancy wine glasses they'd gotten as a wedding gift, engraved with their surname, "Kurtzberg." They were hardly ever used and despite being a wedding gift they weren't too attached to them, so they had been perfect for serving his friends drinks apparently. Nath thought his parents were a tad pretentious to be honest.

Regardless, the set only had twelve and so he'd given one to everyone else as they had arrived and settled for a smaller, plain wine glass himself. And then when the bratty blonde had shown up "fashionably late" (ie last) there had been no more fancy glasses to offer. He'd given her a plain one like himself.

She hadn't said anything then; she probably hadn't even noticed that there were fancy ones. But now that his parents were offering up alcohol – in a carefully restricted 'two glasses only' portion – it was bound to be noticed.

"Let me guess," he said, "everyone else will get more wine than you and you're pissed about it? Just stick with coke or something. Deal with it."

She huffed at him, cocking her hip and crossing her arms, "Swap glasses with me," she demanded.

"Okay," he smirked, offering up a glass identical to her own. He couldn't help feeling smug when she stomped a foot in annoyance.

"Why are we fighting over beverages!?" she complained, "I want a bigger glass for my wine and I am _not_ going to leave you alone until I get one."

"Oh _mon Dieu_ , what is your PROBLEM!?" he shouted at her, before immediately cringing at the sudden sound of his name being called.

"Nathaniel?" his mother asked with as stern tone as she approached, "Is everything alright?"

"Yes, _mamam_ ," he told her, relaxing his tight posture, "I was...I was just going to get Chloé a different glass. Hers is smaller than everyone else's."

His mother regarded him with worried suspicion for a moment before nodding her head and turning to retreat to the next room where she and his father were serving the drinks.

Nath swivelled around to face a now smug looking Chloé. He was seriously starting to regret having this party at all. It didn't seem fun any more.

"Fine," he spat, "There's bigger glasses in the kitchen."

He turned on his heel and stormed away, determined to take as long as he possibly could finding her something suitable to drink from. As he pushed his way through the swing door to the kitchen though, he was surprised to hear her cry of pain as the door swung back and hit her. She had followed him. Great.

He took a deep breath and began searching the cupboard they kept the glasses in for something larger than the glass she was currently using. He felt a spike of annoyance when he realised what he needed was being stored on the highest shelf and he was just a touch too short to reach. He regarded the kitchen in search of something to stand on safely and came up empty.

"I'll have to ask someone else to reach it for you," he mumbled to Chloé, who had come to stand beside him. She was staring up at the glasses pensively, and as he turned to leave she spoke and her words caught him off guard.

"Lift me up and I'll get it."

Nathaniel shook his head, trying to clear what he assumed was an audio hallucination of some kind.

"I'm sorry, what?"

Chloé didn't answer. Instead she reached out for him and in his shock, he moved towards her. She placed her arms around his neck tightly and Nathaniel positively boggled at her.

"Lift," she demanded and surprising himself, he did. Placing his arms around her waist, he hoisted her petite weight until she was more level with the cupboard shelf they needed. She delicately unlaced one arm from his neck to grab two of the glasses by the stems and he brought her down to her feet again on autopilot.

He immediately let go of her waist despite his shock, but Chloé left her arm draped across his shoulder, her hand starting to pet at the nape of his neck. She placed the glasses on the counter next to them, a smug little smile playing about her lips as she returned her other hand to the back of his neck as well.

"I have absolutely no idea what's happening here," he told her, otherwise frozen, "I mean, I have no clue what this is supposed to be." He heard her huff.

"I thought you were supposed to be smart, Red," she said coyly, "I finally got your attention, that's all."

She reached down and grabbed his arms, hanging limply at his sides, and roughly pulled them back to her waist before replacing her own arms around his neck.

"I-I don't understand."

She pouted and somehow it seemed much more vulnerable to him than her usual entitled pouting when she just wanted to get her own way at something.

"I know I'm not the easiest person to get along with," she admitted, "But I've tried being nice to you for weeks now and I tried so hard to compliment your party, and flirt, but you just weren't...I don't know, reacting? So I needed an excuse to get you alone."

Nathaniel wondered if it was possible to casually have a stroke. He was still standing but he was pretty certain he was paralysed. That was a stroke symptom right? It seemed Chloé was saying she had been trying to be nice to him. And possibly, she was telling him that she liked him.

But seriously, in what reality was anything she'd done tonight nice!?

"You insulted the food," he said, confused. She actually had the audacity to look hurt by his comment.

"Actually, I said I could get the hotel chefs to do some fancier catering for you next time without it costing any more," she said, her arms starting to slip from his neck.

"But...but the music-"

"I said it didn't suit you. You don't strike me as heavy bass and repetitive nonsense."

"My drawings," he said, voice becoming stern. His arms dropped from her waist as he remembered her saying his drawings shouldn't have been left lying around for everyone to come across. It had felt cruel and he would have been hurt if he hadn't built up a thick skin against her.

"I didn't want any idiots spilling anything on them or smudging them, obviously. They should be stored somewhere safe. Or in frames."

He was silent as he replayed the evening in his head with a new light. Chloé had never actually insulted him once; he'd only assumed her comments were meant to be biting. He didn't know whether to be amazed by her behaviour or ashamed at his own.

She sighed deeply at his silence, bringing him out of his thoughts, and as he looked down into her eyes he realised they were wet with unshed tears. She looked away and to the side, avoiding his suddenly shocked expression.

Shit. Chloé was not the kind of girl who cried easily. She had faked crying a lot since he'd known her, but there had never been real tears involved before. This was serious.

"Look, clearly it was a bad idea to come to your party at all, never mind following you around to try to talk to you," she bit her lip, "Apparently everything I s-say comes out wrong or you just hate me so much that you assume I mean something else. I-I'll just go."

As she moved for the doorway, he found himself panicking over her retreat. No matter what he'd thought of her previously, she had apparently been trying very hard to be nicer and she was clearly upset that he hadn't noticed her efforts. He didn't want her just sneaking out like that, in evident distress. He latched onto her arm to keep her from getting any further away and she turned back to look at him.

"I..." He had no idea what to say, "I, um, think you should stay. For the party."

"Really?" she asked wiping her eyes.

"Uh, yeah. Then maybe we could...hang out sometime? Become actual friends maybe?"

"I'd like that," she said and she smiled sweetly for once before it quickly transformed into something more predatory looking, "After all, the sooner we're friends, the sooner I can convince you it's not enough."

He gulped and dropped his hand from her arm, reclining away from her as she leaned in towards him. She moved back again with a smirk, the two large glasses from the counter behind him now in her hand.

"Let's go get our wine, Red," she said heading for the swing door.

She held the door open as he finally shook off his paralysis and walked unsteadily towards her. She smiled widely in that smug way he was used to before she spoke.

"I am so glad I got daddy to 'convince' your _maman_ you needed this party."


	2. Back To School

I really do have NO CHILL. I couldn't stop thinking about this silly little Christmas time prompt and what might have happened next. I am not actively working on this, but I'll write little snippets as ideas come to me.

I'm thinking less a coherent plot and more slices of life. They may get posted out of chronological order if I think of something but I'll try to re-label the chapters chronologically if that happens.

 **Ideas or prompts for this would always be welcome!**

* * *

 **Back To School**

Nathaniel abruptly slammed his sketchbook shut with a loud groan, his head falling forward and eyes shutting.

He just _couldn't_ draw.

This had never happened to him. He'd had art blocks before obviously, but usually he would just change the drawing or doodle silly little pieces instead of anything important until it passed. He tended to get over it quickly enough that it was never an issue. But since the party a couple of weeks ago, sketching had gotten harder and harder to concentrate on and now even the most childish scribblings doodled in the margins of his notebook were—at best—abstract nonsense.

He kept his eyes closed, hugging the sketchpad to his lap tightly as the cool January air chilled him and he began to rock back and forth lightly to the music coming from his earbuds in an attempt to warm up.

He'd tried yet again to fit in a quick sketch, this time before the first day of school after New Year and so he'd arrived an extra ten minutes before he normally would have. Finding an empty bench had proved easier this way and he'd decided to just let his hand lead him across the paper in a sort of instinctual trust exercise. He'd thought the generic face he created had been a somewhat positive step away from his art block and had happily continued to draw without thinking, adding a few wisps of hair across the brow before adding a ponytail to make it a girl of some sort. The head had looked too bare so he had added a simple Alice band, detailing it more heavily when it appeared too subtle. Before he'd realised the head piece had turned into a pair of shades and he'd changed the mouth to show off a slight smirk.

That was when he'd slammed the book shut. Because while the picture wasn't yet Chloé, it was definitely on its way to becoming her and he couldn't deny it no matter how hard he tried.

Despite what she seemed to want he _didn't_ like her that way so Nathaniel wasn't worried that her face might keep cropping up in his drawings because of some kind of hidden crush on her. But he had to admit that the shock of what she'd confessed to him at his party had sunken into his bones now and he couldn't avoid the weight of the knowledge on him every day. His mind kept drifting back to thoughts of her regularly as he tried to puzzle out if there was a moment he could pin down when she started liking him.

He'd cast his mind back constantly, first to the days preceding her little confession, then the weeks leading up to it and he'd discovered that she had indeed been really nice to him - in her own way, of course. Though he was seriously struggling to find anything that gave a sharp contrast between the _then_ and _now_. Her behaviour seemed to have gradually morphed from mean to cheeky to coquettish in such a smooth transition that he was now pressed to find much difference between her insults and her teases other than her tone. For instance, she had regularly given him nicknames, most notably calling him Red but also throwing in any reference to the colour of his hair she could (Solo cup, Tomato, Stop sign, Clifford, the list went on). He had never really liked them but they hadn't been as bad as some of her past behaviour so he had built up a tolerance to them, assuming they were just low-grade insults. But lately they had seemed much more affectionate ways of getting his attention instead.

But what had messed him up the most, he decided, was the realisation that she had been flirting with him the whole time. A smirky smile here, a light brush against his arm there. The compliments he'd mistaken for insults were delivered just a bit too coyly to be anything as simple as praise for his drawing ability or interest in how well he was pulling off his outfit.

He groaned again as hindsight made him realise that one had been a particularly obvious innuendo which he'd completely missed at the time and his face burned in embarrassment at the memory of her little eyebrow raise when he'd failed to react.

He jumped suddenly when he felt a tap on his shoulder and he looked up to see the girl herself, standing in front of him in her warm winter coat and – he gulped – smiling sweetly at him. He quickly removed one of his earbuds to hear her.

"God, just how loud do you have that stuff Netflix?" she asked once she could see he was free to listen, "I must have said your name three times before I gave in and shook you."

"Uh huh," he said, an eyebrow raising sceptically, "How did you know I wasn't just tuning out those dumb nicknames and holding out till you used my _actual_ name?"

"Oh please," she said waving a gloved hand dismissively, "I have to use them all till I find my favourite. Although I think 'Red' is winning, to be honest."

She sat down beside him and before he automatically moved his leg away from her, Nathaniel reminded his self-preservation instincts strongly that he had promised to give her a chance at being his friend. He was not going to shrink away in fear of her saying something hurtful when she seemed to be trying so hard.

"So, what are you listening to anyway?" she asked tapping at the lose earbud which now dangled limply from the other, blaring away into the crisp air.

"Oh," he said as he picked up the wire to ease the extra weight on his other ear, "It's a prog-rock band. I like a lot of their stuff but it's, uh a bit weird if you're not used to it." Hesitantly, he offered her the other earbud. "Wanna see what you think?" he asked.

Chloé's eyes and smile widened and he swore the blue of her irises brightened as she looked at him. She gently took the offered wire from him, her clothed fingers brushing his bare ones as she did. She blushed heavily but didn't shy away like some girls might have and Nath suddenly felt his insides squirm uncomfortably.

He forced himself to refocus as he watched her reaction to the music playing in her ear. He couldn't hold back the snicker that escaped as she frowned and turned back towards him with a confused pout.

"What the hell?" she asked, puzzled, "What language is this? It's not French and I grew up around Daddy using English often enough to know it's not that either."

"It's a language the band made up just for their music," he told her, "Told you Magma are a bit strange."

His laughter halted as her face turned suddenly devious and she leaned in towards him till he found himself leaning back in order to keep a comfortable amount of personal space between them.

"Magma?" she asked slyly, relenting in her invasion of his personal bubble and sitting upright again slowly as she watched him right himself as well.

"Uh, yeah?" he asked, brushing his hair out of his face in a nervous gesture to distract himself from how close she had gotten.

"As in red and hot? With a fiery interior hidden under a shy mountain?" she asked almost too innocently, the corner of her mouth tilted up to belay that she knew exactly what she was implying.

"Uh, um..." he said eloquently.

"I think I've found a new niiiiicknaaaame," she sing-songed, her head bopping left and right.

"So, Lava boy, let me hear your favourite track before class starts already."

Nathaniel fumbled for the controls on his phone while simultaneously fighting down the flush of pink dusting across his cheeks and darkening with every second. He had just started the song he liked best when Chloé rested her head against his shoulder to listen. He jumped a little and his phone flew out of his hand. He grappled with it comically for a second as he desperately tried to get a good hold of it before it finally hit the courtyard floor, pulling the buds from their ears as it went.

He groaned as Chloé moved to let him pick it up, eyeing the nasty crack in the screen as he did so. He ran his finger across the raised line and wondered if it would affect the functions or just be an eyesore for the next year until his parents let him have a new model.

"That was my fault, wasn't it?" she asked with a tremor to her voice.

"Nah," he said, "you didn't do anything wrong. Don't worry about it."

"But, I... surprised you," she said, sounding guilty, "If you're free after school I'll take you to the person daddy has fix my phone when I drop it. They can usually fix a small crack like that in a couple of hours and I'll pay for it since it was my fault? I'll even buy you a coffee to make up for it?"

"Um, okay. Thanks," he said blinking back at her genuine look of remorse.

"Great!" she squealed as her face broke out in a victorious smirk. She jumped up from the bench and moved backwards a few steps away from him as he watched with bewilderment. Her sudden movement and squeal had attracted a few onlookers from the courtyard and his eyes flickered around to make brief contact with some of his classmates. Amongst the small crowd he spotted Ivan, Mylène and Juleka who all regarded Chloé with barely hidden suspicion and Adrien and Nino who simply looked confused. He glanced back up at Chloé as her gaze completed the same circuit of people watching them before she narrowed her eyes seductively at him and winked.

"Then it's a date!" she announced loudly before turning on her heel and heading for the stairs to head to class.

There was a moment of complete, utter silence as everyone processed the blonde's words before turning in unison to stare at the red-headed, red-faced boy sitting wide-eyed and stunned on the bench before them.

So... Chloé had just sort-of asked him on a date. And he had unknowingly agreed. Which was sort-of terrifying, but not in the way he expected it to be. Which in of itself was vaguely terrifying too. And on top of that, she'd made sure everyone had known about it. Chloé Bourgeois wasn't trying to hide the fact that she liked him.

"Come on," a gruff voice said.

Nath felt a hand rest on his shoulder and looked up with dazed eyes at Ivan.

"What?"

"It's time for class," the larger boy told him, "You can freak out after roll call when no one can see you behind me. But right now, you're going to be late."

"Right..." he said, still not in full control of his mental facilities but allowing his friend to guide him towards the stairs and the classroom.

Now if he could just make it past Chloé's desk without collapsing he could at least tally up one win for the morning.

* * *

Thomas Astruc has pointed out that the emblem on Nath's t-shirt is based on the band Magma's symbol so I glanced at their Wikipedia page and discovered they have their own language for their music. I thought it appropriate that Nathaniel like their music


End file.
